Wreckage believed to be from missing EgyptAir flight MS804 found in Meditteranean

Ross Robertson

Debris believed to be from a passenger plane which crashed with 66 people on board has been found, as Egypt's aviation minister said it was more likely to have been brought down by terrorism than a technical fault.

An Egyptian aircraft spotted two orange objects near the Mediterranean island of Karpathos, which are believed to have come from EgyptAir flight MS804, Greek military officials said.

Picture by PA.

The flight from Paris to Cairo on Thursday morning disappeared from radar 10 miles inside Egyptian air space at 2.30am Cairo time (1.30am BST) after taking off just under three-and-a-half hours earlier from Charles de Gaulle Airport.

The news of debris came as Egyptian civil aviation minister Sherif Fathy told a Cairo press conference: "If you analyse the situation properly the possibility of ... having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical (failure)."

A Briton was among the passengers aboard the flight, which made a series of sharp turns and plummeted thousands of feet through the air before disappearing.

A major search and rescue operation was launched after the aircraft came down, reportedly near Karpathos, which is around 50 miles east of Crete in the eastern Mediterranean.

Panos Kammenos, the Greek defence minister, told reporters in Athens: "It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360-degree turn toward the right, dropping from 38,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet."

Among those on board were a child and two babies, EgyptAir said.

The airline said the 56 passengers included 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis and one each from Britain, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria, Canada, Belgium, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

French president Francois Hollande earlier confirmed the aircraft had come down, saying: "I have been informed that the aircraft that left Paris to go to Cairo has been lost. It crashed."

He added that "no hypothesis is excluded" in relation to the cause.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: "We know that one British passport holder boarded the flight in Paris and our staff are providing support and assistance to the family at this difficult time. We will continue to help in any way we can."

A British ship and plane have been deployed to help in the search for traces of the missing flight.

The Royal Navy vessel RFA Lyme Bay, which was operating south-east of Crete, was due to arrive in the vicinity of the plane's last known location late on Thursday, Downing Street said.

It is planned that the ship, with 60 personnel on board, will search along the track of the airliner's route.

Meanwhile, an RAF C130 aircraft was being deployed from the UK air base at Akrotiri, Cyprus. Equipped with surveillance kit, radar, high-powered binoculars and night vision goggles, it has the capability for day and night searching in all weathers.

The UK Government is treating the incident as an "important priority", with officials from a number of Whitehall departments working on it throughout the day and ministers briefed when necessary, said Number 10.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "Our thoughts remain with the families of those on board EgyptAir flight MS804 as they await further information.

"To support the ongoing search efforts, I have today directed RFA Lyme Bay to the area, and I have also offered a C-130 Hercules aircraft from RAF Akrotiri to support the Egyptian-led effort.